James Walker Benét

James Walker Benét (1914 – December 16, 2012) was an American journalist, author, and reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle and KQED.

[1] Benet's uncle, Stephen Vincent Benét, was a writer and poet who won a Pulitzer Prize for John Brown's Body.

[1] He was a brigade combat soldier and ambulance driver from 1936 to 1937, later leaving Spain when the war turned in favor of Francisco Franco.

[1] In a 2012 interview with Public Radio International, Benét explained his reasoning for joining the war, "If the moment comes when it's the obvious right thing and somebody's got to do it, maybe it's going to be you...I always felt that I was on the right side of history in Spain.

"[1] He worked as a reporter for The New Republic and the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) during World War II after returning to the United States.